New North Korean missile ready for export:Russia helped
with its guidance system

World Tribune

18 September 2003

North
Korea has accelerated its Taepo Dong-2 program and now appears ready to export
the advanced intermediate-range missiles to Middle East clients.

U.S. officials
said Pyongyang obtained Russian expertise and technology to complete the Taepo
Dong-2, a missile with a range of nearly 6,000 kilometers. The officials said
the Russian expertise has improved the missile's guidance system.

North
Korea has already begun producing the Taepo Dong-2. The most likely customer for
the newly-designed missile is Iran, the officials said. Libya has also expressed
interest.

"Iran wants the missile fast and is prepared to pay for
it," a U.S. official said. "North Korea embarked on a crash program
of the Taepo Dong-2 and with Russian aid has vastly improved this missile."

The first model of the Taepo Dong was based on the Scud missile. The Scud
B, which North Korea acquired from Egypt in the early 1980s, has served as the
basis for the extended Scud C, Scud D, No-Dong and Taepo Dong-1 missiles.

Much
of the Taepo Dong has been redesigned with Russian help. The redesign was based
on Russia's SS-N-6 or Serb, which is a submarine-launched liquid-fuel ballistic
missile with a range of 3,200 kilometers. It was first deployed in 1969. The missile
can carry a 1 metric ton warhead.

Russia refers to the missile as the R-27
and it has undergone several improvements. The R-27U, deployed in 1975, can carry
single and multiple warheads. Moscow has asserted the missile's accuracy has increased
by 15 percent over previous models.

Iranian interest in the Taepo Dong-2
has grown over the past few months following the U.S.-led war in Iraq and threats
to destroy Teheran's nuclear program, believed to be developing nuclear weapons.
Iran's Shihab-3 and Shihab-4, based on North Korean technology, have failed to
reach full production stage because of a lack of engines.

Iran also wants
North Korea to use its newly acquired guidance system technology to improve the
accuracy of the Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile. In a June test, the Shihab-3
exceeded its projected range and flew 1,380 kilometers.

Pyongyang has also
received China's help to improve its missiles. Officials said Chinese companies
often use North Korean fronts to export missiles and nuclear components.

"Although
China recently issued updated regulations on the export of chemical and biological
agents, as well as missile-related export controls, full implementation and effective
enforcement are still lacking," Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly
told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. "We continue to
see disturbing cases of proliferation activities by certain Chinese firms."

On Sept. 13, the United States led the first of 10 exercises in an effort
to coordinate missions to seize suspected shipments of missiles and weapons of
mass destruction from North Korea to Middle East clients. The two-day exercise,
called Pacific Protector, tested the capabilities of 11 nations, led by Australia,
to intercept and search vessels, aircraft and land vehicles suspected of transporting
WMD-related cargoes.

"We think [it] will have a dramatic negative
impact in international commerce that will, in turn, slow down the ability of
potential proliferators to get the technology that they need," a senior U.S.
official said.